//------------------------------// // Chapter XVI - Discipline part II // Story: The Adventures of Damon Lipton // by Mr101 //------------------------------// The Adventures of Damon Lipton Chapter XVI - Discipline part II “Morning Bon-Bon!” “Good morning, Caramel.” Bon-Bon smiled as she headed down the street towards her confectionary shop in order to start her day. Along the way, she saw her friend Lyra step out of her home and smiled. “Hey, Lyra.” “Oh hey, Bon-Bon. How are you?” Lyra replied. “I’m okay, just heading to work,” Bon-Bon replied. “Want me to walk you?” Lyra offered. Bon-Bon blushed slightly and nodded, “I’d like that, yeah.” The two mares walked side by side down the streets, Celestia’s sun warming their coats as they past the other ponies in the street. They stopped in their tracks when they heard the sounds of Damon—local lich and friend of Berry Punch—screaming as he was dragged through the streets by his cloak, which was in the mouth of said Berry Punch. “Damon, you are going and that’s final!” Berry shouted through the cloth. “Please don’t make me!” he wailed, “you don’t know what he’ll do to me!” “Oh nonsense,” Berry sighed, “I’m sure he just wants to see you again. After all, you have been missing in your world for a month…” “He won’t care! He will kill me, resurrect me, then kill me again!” Damon whimpered as he tried to break free of her grip, “I want to live!” “You’re already dead,” Berry groaned. “He can’t be that bad can he, Uncle Bones?” Pinchy asked. They heard Damon whimper before he spotted them and other ponies starring and wailed, “DON’T JUST STAND THERE! HELP ME!” The onlookers simply watched the bizarre scenario, wondering what the heck was actually going on. As Berry dragged Damon around a corner, Bon-bon looked to Lyra. “Do we… even want to know?” “No… no we don’t, liches are weird,” Lyra replied. “Very true,” Bon-Bon giggled. The two arrived at Bon-Bon’s shop soon after the strange scene with Berry Punch and Damon, walking inside as Bon-Bon turned the sign to show the shop was ‘open.’ “I’m gunna head out now, Bon-Bon. Need to go get my Lyre fixed,” Lyra said. “Oh, okay. Do you uh… want to do anything later?” Bon-Bon asked. “Sure, wanna go to—” An explosion interrupted her that caused both ponies to jump out of their skins, “What in the hay was that?” “I don’t know…” Bon-Bon muttered. They both exited the shop and joined a crowd of ponies who were trying and see where the source of the sudden explosion had come from, a figure that they instantly recognised as Damon suddenly darted round a corner past the group of ponies. “Hey, watch it!” a stallion yelled. “Sorry!” Damon yelled back. “W-watch where you’re running, Damon!” “Sorry, Bon-Bon!” Damon panted as he darted round into an alley, leaving both Lyra and Bon-Bon looking on in confusion. “Wonder what that was all about…” Bon-Bon muttered to herself. “Beats me, anyway, I’m gunna head off. I’ll see you this evening, okay?” Lyra said. “O-okay, see you later!” Bon-Bon smiled. Lyra started to walk back down the pathway and her eyes went wide as she looked to her left. Down the road where the library was, a tall figure —that looked like Damon minus the bones— was slowly walking towards her. Behind it she could see a large hole in the wall of the library and the princesses, Berry Punch and her daughter, Spike and the Elements of Harmony running out of it. “Excuse me, miss,” the figure asked politely, “did you see Damon come this way?” “U-uh… y-yeah?” she replied, blinking in slight confusion. “Marvelous, thank you.” The figure quickly strode past her before vanishing in a flash of white, leaving the mare watching in disbelief as the others ran past her. “Maybe I should’ve listened to him earlier,” Berry said. “It’s okay, Berry,” Twilight replied reassuringly, “none of us were expecting that…” “What manner of discipline is this?!” Luna growled, “this is mindless brutality!” “Let’s just focus on finding Damon before Kalanar does,” Celestia said, charging up her horn with magic.. Damon panted as he ran out of the alleyway and looked left and right, “Need to get out of town, need to ready.” He darted towards the Everfree forest but was suddenly and violently blasted forwards as something exploded behind him. He tumbled along the ground and went careening into a tree, smashing directly through it and into a tumbling heap on the forest ground. “Motherfucker… I should know better than to stop when he does that…” he groaned as he got up. “Are you going to make this easy or not, Damon?” Kalanar cried from above him. Damon looked up quickly just in time to raise a small ward that deflected a fireball that exploded into a nearby tree. Kalanar glared at him as he floated in the ait, supported by a whirling vortex of wind. “It seems you remembered to ward that time, good. But don’t think I’m done yet!” With a grunt, Damon rolled over and ran deeper into the forest, Kalanar flying over head and launching fireball after fireball at him. “I see him!” Rainbow cried, pointing in the direction of the forest. The group quickly changed their direction and ran towards where Rainbow was pointing, seeing Kalanar in the distance flying over the trees. “They can fly?!” Applejack cried, “since when in the hay could they do that?” “Well, we don’t know what kind of magic they have other than the few things Damon’s shown,” Luna replied. “I hope Damon’s okay…” Pinchy frowned. “I’m sure he is, sweetie,” Berry replied reassuringly, trying to hide her own uncertainty. They cringed as another explosion echoed ahead of them. “His method of discipline is… extreme,” Twilight winced, shuddering at the thought of Celestia doing the same. “It’s something I’m going to have strong words with him about,” Celestia growled. “For the last damn time, Damon. DODGE!” Kalanar screamed. Damon yelped as a blast of fire screamed over his head and exploded behind him. He had lead Kalanar to a deserted clearing deep within the forest, far away from the town. Damon had figured that if this was going to happen, it had to happen where the innocent couldn’t be hurt. Kalanar raised his hands again as his magic energy swirled around them, pointing towards Damon as he fired three fireballs at him one after the other. Damon braced himself and leant his body back, nearly touching the floor as two of them sailed over him, narrowly missing. He then placed his hands behind him and with a burst of strength launched himself up as the third one shot past. He then went on the offensive. Landing on the ground he raised his hand to his side and ripped the water out of a plant nearby, killing it instantly and the water circled above him before forming into droplets. With a quick mutter under his breath, the droplets formed into sharp icles, pushing his hands out and sending the icicles, at speed, towards Kalanar. “Not bad, still,” Kalanar stamped his foot and a wall of earth rose up, stopping the icicles, “not good enough!” Damon’s eyes widened as a bolt of lightning blasted out from the wall of earth towards him, gritting his teeth he pulled a ward spell up that only deflected part of the spel. He cried in pain as his body was racked with electricity and he fell to one knee. “Focus, Damon, focus,” Kalanar muttered to himself. As Damon shakily rose to back up, Kalanar turned his head to see the others burst into the clearly and glaring at him. “Kalanar! Stop this at once!” Celestia demanded. “Stop attacking Damon!” Rainbow added. “F-funny you would say that,” Damon snickered before grunting, “guys I-I’m fine… stay out of this.” “But, Damon—” Berry started. “I mean it, Berry…” Damon interrupted with a smirk only she and Celestia caught, “everything will be fine.” Much to her reluctance, Celestia nodded and the group took a few steps back. Once this was done, a quick flash of light surrounded the area and a small dome of light blue magic encased the two mages. “A shield?” Twilight said as she looked up, “surely you can break this, I mean—” “It’s not Kalanar’s shield,” Celestia interrupted, watching Kalanar and Damon, “Damon’s put it up.” “But, why?” Berry frowned, looking at Celestia. “I don’t know… but I have feeling we should respect his wish,” Celestia replied. besides… I think I know what’s going on now... Berry looked back at Damon still worried as the lich stood up and straightened himself out. Damon grunted and lifted his arms up and flames burst from his palm heading for Kalanar, Kalanar scoffed and brought his arm up in a back hand motion as a wall of water shot across and extinguished the flames on contact. “Really, Damon? This old—” Kalanar stopped realising, that the fire had created a large amount of steam from the contact of water that covered the area and quickly dispersed it. He saw that Damon was no longer standing where he was and he mentally cursed himself for forgetting a basic principle. He closed his eyes and waited, having a vague idea of what Damon was attempting. “Where’d Damon go?” Applejack asked. Celestia smirked to herself, “Wait and see.” The ground in front of Kalanar suddenly cracked and in an instant, Kalanar leapt backwards just as a pillar of flames erupted from the earth. Landing with a thud, he smirked as Damon shot out of the ground on a small column of earth. “Not bad, Damon,” Kalanar complimented. “Thanks, I try,” Damon smirked. “But you forgot something,” Kalanar chuckled. “What’s that?” Kalanar didn’t answer with words. His body collapsed into water as Damon’s eyes went wide and he quickly turned round, only to be greeted with a lump of earth that collided with his stomach. Damon was sent flying into the shield and cried out as he fell to the ground, rolling over and holding his stomach. “Dodge,” Kalanar smirked from behind him. “I-I don’t understand any of this!” Twilight cried in frustration. “How is this discipline?!” “Go, Uncle Bones! Beat him up like the goblins!” Pinchy cried, waving her hoof in support. “Goblins?” Berry asked. “I’ll tell you later, Berry Punch,” Celestia replied. Berry blinked and returned her attention to the fight, “Still… I can’t help but worry—” “Trust me, there is no need to fret,” Celestia smiled. “How can ya say that though, Princess?” Applejack protested. “Damon’s getting his flank handed to him pretty hard!” Celestia smiled to the girls as Pinchy—and now Pinkie— continued to cheer for Damon, “I ask you to trust me.” There was some hesitant but the girls slowly nodded and turned back to watching the fight. Damon ducked as a ball of fire flew over him and quickly retaliated with a blast of air that Kalanar easily deflected by wrapping his cloak around him, Damon cursed as he pulled a staff from thin air and slammed it into the ground causing a large fissure to stream at speed towards Kalanar. Kalanar rolled to the right and avoided the attack, quickly firing back at Damon with several blast of fire. Damon deflected two with a ward shield but it shattered upon a third hit and was sent hurtling back into the shield once more as the fireball exploded. “Focus, Damon!” Kalanar shouted. “If you focused on what I have taught you, I wouldn’t need to discipline you as such!” Damon slowly rose to his feet with a low groan, smoke rising from his robes that were badly singed and shakily stood in place. He tried to focus on his magic but he felt his energy depleting due to the strain of the dome shield around them and groaned again. Damon then saw another barrage of fireballs careening towards him and he braced himself for impact, not able to dodge them. Then it hit him. Quickly, he focused all of his remaining power into his hands and formed a large ward shield in front of him just as the barrage struck him, all exploding loudly around him. “DAMON!” The girls shouted. As the smoke cleared, they all saw Damon standing perfectly fine and panting heavily, his hand still up as he smirked to Kalanar. “F-finally… got the… hang… of it, Master” he wheezed. Kalanar smiled and walked over to his student, “About time too, Damon. I’m proud of you.” They chuckled to each other as Damon cancelled the shield spell around them. Kalanar helped Damon stand up and pulled out a flask containing blue liquid and handed it to him. “Here, drink this regen potion,” “Thanks, Master,” Damon replied as he swallowed the contents and coughed, “fuck… always hated that taste.” “Oh, grow up you child,” Kalanar chuckled. The two walked back over to the group. With the exception of Celestia, Pinchy and Pinkie, were all staring at the two with dropped jaws and twitching eyes, completely confused. “What?” Damon asked. “But… the fight… why are you… how… what?” Twilight spluttered. “Hmm?” Damon said, “That? That was just discipline and training combined. Training for my ward spell and discipline for my actions.” “H-how was that discipline?!” Luna demanded. “Quite simple really,” Kalanar replied, “usually, mages will engage in magic battles when it comes to disciplinaries. It allows us to essentially force the student to ‘wake up’ and rely on their teachings, it’s a barbaric method to most people but it’s effective. Damon used to be useless at ward spells, now he can cast them, thanks to the fight.” They blinked at him as Kalanar continued. “And in his current lich form, I knew as well as he did that he would be more resilient to physical damage then if he were still human. Thus, allowing me to use more force than I normally do in order to punish him for his actions.” “As I thought,” Celestia smiled. “I’m so confused…” Rainbow muttered. “Me too an’ all sugarcube…” Applejack added. “Let’s all just return to Ponyville, shall we?” Celestia suggested. “Yes, lets. I’d love to see the town myself anyway, plus there is actually things I need to discuss with you, Princess, as well as the Elements and Damon,” Kalanar replied. As the group started to walk back, Pinchy demanding to ride on Damon’s head much to his dismay as his head still hurt slightly, Celestia felt a gently tug on her wing and looked over to see Twilight looking up at her with a slightly fearful look. “Twilight, what’s the matter?” she asked. Twilight bit her lip and lowered her ears slightly, “Princess… you’d never discipline me like that… would you?” Celestia blinked at her student and rolled her eyes with a shake of her head and gave her a reassuring nuzzle, “Of course not, Twilight. I’d never do something like that to a student of mine.” This made Twilight feel better and she smiled at her teacher, she then quickly ran after her friends followed by Celestia who momentarily frowned. At least… not again, not since I did that to Starswirl… she thought to herself biting her lip. As the wooden carriage trundled along the dirt path, the mare pulling it stopped for a moment to catch her breath. Using her magic she unhooked herself from the carriage and floated a map from her saddlebag in front of her. “Let’s see… the next town is… Ponyville.” She put the map back into her saddlebag and took out a flask of water which she took a long drink from before returning it. With a confident smirk, she re-hooked herself back onto the carriage and declared loudly to no one in particular. “Look out, Ponyville. You are about to have the honour having the Great and powerful Trixie grace your town!”